Chroma Arcana Preview

Disclaimer: this preview was written using a prototype copy of the game. All rules and artwork are subject to change.

When it comes to duelling card games, we’re spoiled for choice. From the 27,000+ card behemoth of Magic: The Gathering to small, all-in-one games like Mindbug. There are a ton of different ways to fight the person opposite you, and it’s not going away anytime soon, as the Disney Lorcana juggernaut proves. Chroma Arcana joins the throng, aiming to separate you from the cash in your wallet. If you’re a designer bringing a new duelling card game to the market, there’s a very important question that I, as Joe Public, have for you.

“Why should I choose your game?”

To answer that question you need to give me some clear, concise reasons that make your game stand out from the crowd. So, why should I buy Chroma Arcana?

Why not both?

The biggest difference between the TCGs (Trading Card Games) like Magic, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh and the all-in-ones like Mindbug is the variety of types, styles, or schools involved. Mindbug lets you slap cards pretty much straight into the battle, while those like Pokemon TCG see you adding cards to a staging area, trying to charge cards up, and balancing the cards in your deck which can fight for you against those that help charge their abilities.

Chroma Arcana brings that same feel of having different schools of magic, or Pokemon types. Each card belongs to a different colour deck. They might not be named as such, but the same feel persists. It might be the ‘red’ deck instead of ‘fire’, but it’s the same idea. Firey things live in the red deck, lifegiving stuff is in the green deck – you get the idea. The concept is great because it lets you build your own custom decks to fight with, but with each of you building from the same decks. There’s no advantage to be gained by buying a ton of booster packs and getting cards that the other person might not have.

At the same time, with the way the different colours’ abilities mesh, it feels like you’ve got an almost open-ended pallette of paints to mix to come up with something special. While I’m on the paint metaphor, and thinking about a mixture of colours, it’s worth noting that approximately 30% of the characters in the game are non-white, and the same proportion are LGBT+. Kudos for being aware enough to even think about doing this, let alone weaving it into the game. Representation matters.

It’s a bit like giving a kid a colouring book but just a few basic coloured pencils to work with. Just because you have some limitations imposed on you doesn’t mean you can’t still create something beautiful, and something more interesting than just having a single grey pencil. That’s the feeling I get from Chroma Arcana.

The small print

Chroma Arcana falls foul of my biggest pet peeve in any of these card duelling games, and that’s the printing on the cards. I’m not a moron, I get it. If you want to put words on cards, but leave room for important symbols and some very pretty artwork (the art in this game is gorgeous), the text has to be small. I just find it frustrating when I can’t read or discern everything I need to know about a card when it’s on the table. My eyesight’s pretty good, but I still have to pick them up to read it.

Those of you familiar with card games are probably rolling your eyes at this point, and I can understand that. It’s not like it’s as small as Pokemon TCG text! Once you’re past those first few learning games, the text becomes mostly irrelevant. As long as you can see the cost to activate something and the icons that tell you whether it’s a ward, a minion, etc., then you’ve got all the information you need. Those learning games are crucial though, as that’s the only time you’ve got to grab someone by the dopamine receptors and go “Look at the thing I made. Play it. It’s fun!”.

The iconography throughout is great, and I like the way the keywords for a card are in a black boxout in the middle of it. It does a great job of drawing your eyes where they need to be. Once you’ve played a few times, you’ll be able to rattle through your games with relative ease, and they move fast, except for when your opponent has a potion card to interrupt your turn. Grrr! Annoying, but a cool feature in these games. Nothing better than pushing a stick into the wheels of your rival’s bike and watching his plans flip over the handlebar.

Final thoughts

I was a little wary of Chroma Arcana before it arrived. I’ve played so many duelling card games now, that I already know what to expect for at least part of how the game will play out. Using colours for the decks is cool, if not unique. Achroma (review here) does something similar. Fun fact: when I was approached to cover this game, I thought it was Achroma at first. Don’t make the same mistake. They’re very different games, and I prefer Chroma Arcana.

Every game I’ve played of Chroma Arcana has felt tight and competitive. Even when I’ve had a go at constructing my own deck – something I’m terrible at – I found that I was able to make something that worked together without too much trouble, which I really appreciated.

The promo copy I was sent was restricted to a smaller number of colours and characters (Egos, in the game’s parlance) than you’ll get in the finished product, and there were a few rough edges that I’m sure will be planed smooth by the time it ends up in your sweaty little mitts. Some of the cards had different names from what was listed in the rulebook, which made deck construction tricky, and the instructions for building your decks for the first game don’t tell you how many cards you should end up with. You’re told to add cards to the deck, but not how many of each. The only reference to how many cards go in a deck (it’s 26, if you’re wondering) is in a boxout on page 15, five pages after it tells you what cards to use. Like I say though, bear in mind this is still a preview of a prototype, and these are the kinds of things that are subject to change.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you my favourite thing about the game! Every time you shuffle your discard pile to recycle it into your draw pile, you lose 1 HP. Sounds small, but I love it. It keeps the pace up, and it means discarding a handful of cards to charge spells comes at a long-term cost. The snappy pace, the beautiful cards, and the (apparent) balance in the cards meant that I really enjoyed my time with Chroma Arcana. It’s clearly a labour of love for the designer, Mo, and it really shows. If duelling card games are your bag, keep your eyes on the Kickstarter project page for when this launches on 27th February 2024.

Preview copy kindly provided by Roc Nest Games. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

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